Monday, January 31, 2011

Survey Says...

A handful of interesting surveys have come to light in the past month. The surveys shed light on test stress, young kids and video games, and the impact ereaders have on the amount of reading people do.

EREADER USERS READ MORE

Wether your choice of e-reader is Kindle, iPad, or Nook, chances are you are likely to read more and buy more books than people who don’t own an ereader. Twenty-one percent of Americans say they have not bought a single book in the past year, while only 8 percent of ereader users have not bought a book.

Percent whoread11+ booksa year

Percent whoread21+ booksa year

Percent whohave not bought1 book in past year

Book Readers

40 percent

19 percent

21 percent

Ereader Users

36 percent

26 percent

8 percent

According to this survey conducted by Harris Interactive, 53 percent of people who own an ereader say they read more now than they did six months ago; only 18 percent of non-ereader owners say they are reading more. [read more]

While adults ages 18 and up were the subject of the Harris Interactive survey, might ereaders boost reading frequency among grade-school kids too? A 2010 survey by Scholastic indicates that technology could be a positive motivator to get kids reading; 57 percent of kids (age 9-17) say they are interested in reading an eBook, and a third of children age 9-17 say they would read more books for fun if they had access to eBooks on an electronic device. That includes kids who read 5-7 days per week (34%), 1 to 4 days per week (36%), and even those who read less than one day per week (27%). [read more]

WRITING CAN RELIEVE TEST STRESS

University of Chicago researchers say that students who write about their fears before taking an exam perform better than students who do not write beforehand. “It’s getting negative thoughts and worries down on paper that seems to be the benefit,” says study co-author Sian Beilock, who is author of Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To. Giving students time to write about the stress they feel seems to “clear the working memory” of worries that might get in the way of test success, she added. [read more]

YOUNG KIDS MORE ADEPT AT TECH SKILLS THAN LIFE SKILLS

According to an online survey by Internet security firm AVG, young kids seem to be more adept at playing video games than they are at important life skills. While 58 percent of children ages two to five can play a basic computer game, only 20 percent can make an emergency phone call and 11 percent can tie their own shoelaces. Kids are mimicking their parents’ attachment to computers, so it is important that parents take responsibility for some digital training. “We need to look at making sure that we give our children a balanced life and a mix of both life skills and technical skills,” AVG’s Tony Anscombe told technology columnist Larry Magid. [read more]

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About Me

Since 1997, I have been the editor in chief of EducationWorld.com, the largest free Web site for educators. Here I’ve created numerous practical features for school leaders, including Education World’s popular Principal Files series and Newsletters ’R Us, a collection of free copy-and-paste features for principals to use in their staff and parent newsletters. Prior to joining EducationWorld, I was a managing editor of Weekly Reader, the children’s classroom newspaper, and a third-grade classroom teacher. If that isn't enough "school stuff" for you, at one time I even lived in an old school! A native New Englander, and a graduate of the University of Southern Maine, my outside interests include collecting autographs and cheering on the Boston Red Sox.